Jay Barrett/KMXT
Anchorage
mayor, and Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, Mark Begich was in Kodiak on
Sunday for a campaign swing through Crab Fest.

After being
courted for months by national Democratic figures, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich
entered the race for his party’s nomination last month to try and unseat U.S.
Senator Ted Stevens in the fall general election.

He’s the
son of the late Nick Begich Senior, who, while Alaska’s lone congressman, was
lost and presumed killed on a small plane flight in Southcentral Alaska. No
remains of the crash have ever been found. Mark was just 10 years old when that
happened, and because of it, was not attracted to politics until his 20s. He
has since served on the Anchorage Assembly and is in his second term as
Anchorage mayor. He was once the driver for Tony Knowles when the former
governor was mayor of Anchorage.

A candidate
can’t come to Kodiak – especially during Crab Festival – without addressing
Crab Rationalization, the privatization program earmarked into existence by Ted
Stevens which has cost Kodiak hundreds of jobs, both on boats and at processing
plants:

--(Crab
Ratz30
sec“…
and has a direct impact.”)

He vowed
that if he were elected to the senate, he would not let industry have more
influence than science and community input:

--(Crab
Ratz 220
sec“…
science wasn’t part of the equation.”)

He also
said crewmen seemed to have been left out of the equation as well: